Page 40

CHAPTER THIRTY

Cameron

“Is it just me, or do the girls seem a little more feral than normal tonight?”

Payton and Paige look in the direction I’m staring, low laughs leaving them both.

“They are definitely hovering around the athletics station.” Paige nods, taking a bite of her matcha ice cream. “But they do have the most topping options.”

I scoff, leaning back on my hands and watching the women laugh and giggle with the guys. “You are so cute, sweet, and innocent, Paigey. They are not there for the toppings. They’re there to see who they want to be topping.”

Paige turns ten shades of red, and Payton chokes on her boring vanilla cone.

She wipes her mouth, smiling from us to the athletics table. “I say it’s all about the hot dad. I don’t know what it is, but guys with babies seem to draw the hottest of women.”

“Mm.” I nod. “Yup. It’s catnip for our pussycats.”

“Oh my god,” Payton chuckles, and Paige is now the color of a tomato.

We look over again, laughing as Mason lifts Deaton up onto the chair and does his best to scoop a pile of sprinkles, half of them missing the girl’s ice cream bowl and landing all over the table when he serves it to her.

She and all her friends giggle and make the universal he’s so cute sounds .

Mason grins at his son, kissing his cheek before his eyes move this way. He winks at Payton, then goes back to serving ice cream.

“Are they working the table all night?” Paige asks.

“Nah.” I look across the room. “Xavier and the other baseball players are already here. They should be taking over soon.”

“Why did they decide on ice cream again?” Paige asks, digging into her jacket pocket when her phone dings. “Why not hot chocolate or something?”

“It’s from the local creamery downtown. They donate pretty much everything. We got a few big tubs for the day care this morning too, and Junie was telling me about it.”

Paige sighs, and I look over to see her frowning at her screen, chewing on her fingernail nervously.

“Hey,” Payton says. “Everything okay?”

Paige looks at the two of us, her shoulders falling.

“So I finally got the estimate on how much it’s going to cost to fix the damages at my studio, and it’s…

insane. I was only able to buy it because it was in foreclosure, and with what I had left of my dad’s life insurance after school expenses, I knew I could only afford to keep the lights on and pay property taxes until I graduate next year, but I was okay with that.

Something like this didn’t even cross my mind. ”

“You couldn’t afford the insurance,” I realize, and her eyes cloud with tears as she shakes her head. “Shit, Paige. I’m so sorry.” I reach out, squeezing her shoulder.

“So does that mean you’re going to have to let it go?” Payton asks softly.

Paige blows out a long breath. “You know how my long-lost grandfather just popped up out of nowhere?” We nod, and she lets out a sad, humorless laugh. “He says I have an inheritance waiting for me.”

I turn toward her. “That’s awesome.” Payton gives me a quick look, and I rethink my answer. “I mean…that will help, right?”

Paige nods. “Yeah, it would. ”

“There’s a but, isn’t there?”

“A huge, massive but .” She shakes her head again, stuffing her phone back in her pocket. “It’s complicated, and I’m still trying to process what he’s offering.”

“I’m sure it will work out.”

Paige nods, climbing to her feet. “I have to go. I have an early lesson tomorrow.”

We nod, waving as she walks off, her head ducking as she passes the guys, who are all on their way over here.

“What was that about?” Chase looks in her direction, Deaton hanging half over his shoulder.

“Parental drama.”

He only nods, passing the little man over to Brady, who passes him down the line until Little D is smiling and sitting beside his mama, a small bowl of sherbert in his hands.

Mason helps Payton pack up her things, buckles Deaton into his stroller, and they head off. Chase hangs around a little while but then makes his way over to the other side of the cafeteria, where the other football players who came out tonight are lounging.

Brady drops down beside me on top of the picnic-style table, leaning back on his palms to mimic my position. “Kind of crazy we’ve only got a year and a half left, right? Only one more of these things.” He looks around. “Everything we do this year will be the second-to-last.”

I bump him with my shoulder. “Getting all sentimental, are we?”

He gives a half smile. “I just want to enjoy it, you know? Before real life comes in and changes things.”

Real life.

I swallow, the words twisting in my gut for some reason.

My gaze travels the room, and I smirk, shaking my head at all the team tables. Be it basketball, baseball, football, they all have a buffet of beasts hanging around—male and female. Hell, even the track team seems to have their own groupies .

I watch, chuckling when a girl slides her ice cream cone across one of the football player’s lips, leaning in with a smirk to lick it off.

Behind her, I spot Alister. He’s smiling and chatting with his teammates, his own bowl in his hands. Someone says something, and he throws his head back, laughing, the others around joining in. He glances this way then, doing a double take and catching my eye.

He smiles and I give him one in return.

From the corner of my eye, I spot Brady watching me, so I turn toward him.

“Want to get out of here?” I ask him.

He stares a moment, then nods, hopping off the table and tugging me to my feet.

We’re headed for the exit when a few squeals catch our attention, and we look over to see a different guy dragging an ice-cream-covered finger down another girl’s neck.

“Don’t you miss that?” I tease.

“Nah.” Brady shakes his head.

“Not even a little?”

He glances my way, his eyes on mine. “Not even a little.”

“You sure? We can go somewhere off campus where no one knows about us, take home a couple strangers from a bar?” I tease, but the moment it leaves my mouth, images of the other night flash, Brady’s words rolling through my mind with a heavy dose of desire.

His eyes flare as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking about, and he sinks his teeth into that bottom lip of his.

Fucking hot.

“I have been cockblocking you for nearly the entire season so far,” I say suddenly. “Do you want a hall pass?”

His brows snap together. “I should whoop your ass for suggesting that.” He lunges for me, drawing a scream from my lips as his arms circle my thighs and he throws me over his shoulder.

“ Now shut it.” He smacks my booty nice and hard.

“’Cause what I want is all of them to watch me carry my woman out of here like a caveman. ”

I laugh, sliding my hands in his jean pockets, and let him carry my ass out while pretending I’m not enjoying the firmness of his own against my palms.

Shoes come into view as we pass the threshold of the building, and I look up, eyes locking onto a familiar pair for a split second before the door slams closed behind us.

Alister standing on the other side.

Alister

I crack my neck, then crack it again, shaking my limbs out as I pace back and forth in front of the training center doors.

With each passing minute, the sun gets higher in the sky, and every part of me grows even antsier. I couldn’t sleep last night, and I knew this was where I would end up in the morning.

I’ve been out here, freezing my ass off since six a.m.

I look to my phone, my back muscles clenching—six thirty on the dot.

I blow out a long breath, rolling my shoulders. I’ve been patient, sat back and let her have even more space than I’d already given her, figuring that was all she needed—distance from the jerk who treated her like anything less than the prize she is.

Being it was me who screwed up, I knew I had to play by her rules. I was the one in the doghouse and she held the key to the collar that would set me free.

To be honest, after I sat back and forced myself to truly hear what she was saying when she told me she wasn’t ready to talk, I understood. I was thankful she wasn’t pushing me away completely. Staying away wasn’t so bad; doing so didn’t change much .

She and I had conflicting schedules from the day we started hooking up as it was—early mornings, late nights, and an occasional Sunday.

Of course, I did weasel my way into her class this semester so I could be close to her. That was sort of a dick move, but I just wanted to spend time with her like a normal guy instead of as someone she wished she never met.

Guess you didn’t really give her much of that space after all, did you?

Shaking my head, I look to my watch and start pacing some more.

When she first put on her little show at that party, kissing Brady like that, I was pissed off—until I thought about it. Shockingly, I found myself relieved. Happy even.

She was “dating” one of the guys she had introduced to me in conversation as one of her “ band of overprotective brothers ”?

Perfect.

Great.

It was proof she still had feelings for me, and she was afraid of that fact—self-preservation at its finest.

So the girl whose forgiveness I was seeking had a guy who was overly protective of her pretending to be her boyfriend, in turn keeping the rest of the males of the species away from her while she learned how to forgive me? Couldn’t have planned it more perfectly myself.

Only now, he’s not just keeping her away from the other guys here who would love a chance with her.

He’s keeping her from me.

Every time I want to go to her, he’s there. Every time I’m with her, he shows up, and I don’t necessarily think he’s doing it on purpose. I think he just…wants to be near her.

He even calls when we’re studying sometimes, and every now and again, I peek at her phone when she’s texting in the middle of class. Often, it’s his name I see at the top of the screen .

She smiles when she does this, but what kills me is the guilty look in her eye when she remembers I’m sitting beside her.

She has no reason to feel that, especially not where I’m concerned. We’re not together. She has made me no promises—quite the opposite in fact.

So then, why does she? Where did this go wrong? What did I miss?

When did this thing between them go from fake to real because that’s what’s happened, isn’t it?

The crazy part is I like the guy. He’s been a huge help the last few weeks.

He doesn’t hold what I did to his friend over my head like he could, which says a lot about his character.

It’s kind of annoying, actually, how he seems to be a good guy under the wild-and-reckless-playboy persona he initially gives off.

Unfortunately, I’m convinced that was what it was: a persona and one that does not fit the guy I see now that he’s with her.

Maybe I’m overthinking everything. They’ve known each other most of their lives, so maybe all the calls and texts and routine hangouts are normal for their friendship and I just never realized because she and I didn’t really get off the ground on the relationship side of things?

Yeah, that could be it.

I think of Allana and the years of friendship we had. We were together all the time; even on holidays, I would walk over to her house and spend the day there. We were best friends for years before love took its place. Is that what’s happening?

Is he falling in love with her?

My muscles lock up.

He’s falling in love with her.

A humorless laugh leaves me, my hands sliding into my hair and pulling. “Of course he is,” I mumble. How could he not?

The doors are thrown open and I jerk away to not get nailed by them .

Mason, Chase, and Brady halt when they first spot me, then start walking again.

“What’s up, Howl?” Mason says.

His animosity toward me—all warranted—is as good as gone. He’s nothing but a good teammate toward me now, and that makes the shame about how I treated him when I first got here eat at me even more.

I really fucked things up for myself here at Avix U.

I offer Mason a tight smile, but my eyes slide to the largest of the three.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

Brady’s eye twitches, but he cools his expression quickly. He passes his bag to Chase and nods for them to go ahead of him.

We watch them as they walk over to Mason’s Tahoe, tossing the bags inside.

When I face him again, he’s looking at me. He says nothing, likely aware of why I’m standing here and not about to make it easy on me.

“I’m going to go for her, Brady.”

His face remains completely blank. The man doesn’t even blink, and I force myself to keep talking.

“I’m going to talk to her and tell her that I love her. I’m going to beg her to give me another chance and I’m going to swear on my life that I will never do anything to hurt her ever again.” I pull in a long breath, waiting for him to speak.

To tell me to fuck off and get lost. To tell me that she’s his girlfriend and how dare I, keeping up the ruse—or allowing his panic at losing her to take over.

I’m even braced for a punch to the face.

I get none of that.

The man stares at me, hard, his eyes drilling into mine, the rest of him remaining expressionless. “Do you think she loves you?” he asks in an even tone.

“I know she could. ”

That gets a slight narrowing of the eyes, but he does blink then, and it’s wiped away. Brady looks toward his friends, then back at me. “Trust your instincts, Alister.” He heads toward the Tahoe.

“I know you’re falling for her!” I blurt out.

Brady stops walking.

I wait for him to turn around, to tell me I’m out of line, out of my mind, or reading things wrong.

I hope he’ll tell me those things.

He doesn’t.

He starts moving again, this time in the opposite direction, ignoring his friends when they call his name.